<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Never Knew Love Living Without You by trxtr</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28308564">Never Knew Love Living Without You</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/trxtr/pseuds/trxtr'>trxtr</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>9-1-1: Lone Star (TV 2020)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Army, Army Medic!TK, Army!TK, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Presents, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, M/M, Soft Carlos Reyes, Soft TK Strand</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 15:20:44</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,614</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28308564</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/trxtr/pseuds/trxtr</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Carlos hasn't felt the magic of Christmas since Tk was deployed.</p><p>Maybe Tk can show him just how special it can be.</p><p>or:</p><p>An army medic!Tk tarlos homecoming au.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Carlos Reyes &amp; Owen Strand, Carlos Reyes/TK Strand, TK Strand/Owen Strand</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>155</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Never Knew Love Living Without You</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/terramous/gifts">terramous</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is for Max because he told me he needed fluff.</p><p>Also I'm just really in love with Army Medic!Tk pls this is so cute.</p><p>I wrote this at eleven pm with a migraine please go easy on me.</p><p>I also decided to try my hand at present tense????? wacky.</p><p> </p><p>  <b>not beta read</b></p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Awakening on Christmas day is anything but exciting for Carlos. He’s been coming to terms with that fact since his parents told him that Santa isn’t real. He’s been grappling with that fact since he moved out on his own, and he's been sulking over it ever since an eighteen month deployment left the love of his life stranded in Afghanistan, doing what he could to preserve himself and the people stuck overseas with him.</p><p>Christmas last year really sucked without him, and Carlos nows this year is bound to be even worse.</p><p>Facetimes were few and far between, but when Carlos did get to talk to him, the other was often exhausted, smiling at Carlos with tired eyes because Tk undoubtedly missed him just as much as Carlos did. Tk would often drone on and on, talking about how much he missed Carlos’s cooking; how he missed his dad and the firehouse; hope it wasn’t fair that he’d gotten called in from the higher ups.</p><p>“That’s the reserves, Baby,”  Carlos would reply.</p><p>To which Tk always rolled his eyes.</p><p>What Carlos would never admit on facetime was how much he actually misses his husband. A year and a half takes a toll on everyone, but especially Carlos Reyes. He’s been counting down the days to Tk’s homecoming ever since he dropped him at the airport; marking down the days on four different Calendars just so it felt like he was marking four different days; like Tk would come back sooner. Tk had left July 7th, 2019, and he’s not supposed to get back until at least January.</p><p>That means two Christmases without his beloved; two holidays where he’s meant to be surrounded by the ones he loved, alone in his home, or managing to sneak into the 126’s dinner party.</p><p>So, waking up today, Carlos is not feeling the spirit.</p><p>He’s awoken tby his and Tk’s german shepherd mix, Nadia, snoring loudly next to him in what should be Tk’s spot, but it hasn’t been for seventeen months. Carlos has made it a point to wash the sheets regularly, so if the off chance Tk does come home, he doesn’t have to deal with dog hair all over his clothes.</p><p>But it isn’t the dog’s snoring that woke him up, nor is it the chiming of his phone alarm, which he’s been sleeping through for what he would guess was the past hour and a half. No, it was the loud, perpetual knocking on his door.</p><p>Probably his family, here to rub in how happy they are without him in the house.</p><p>Realistically, Carlos knows that isn’t true, but he was really dealing with a case of the scrooges. He wants nothing more than to lay in bed and sleep the day away, but soon the knocking gets Nadia’s attention, and he’s left scrambling to put on a decent pair of pajama pants while his dog howls at the door in excitement.</p><p>“Nadia! Hush!” Carlos gently scratches her back as he trudges downstairs. “I’ve got it, okay, girl?”</p><p>The dog only calms down when Carlos unlocks and swings the door open.</p><p>“Hi, Carlos.” Owen Strand is standing in his doorway with a dolly full of gifts; quite literally stacked past the man’s height. He smiled at Carlos, eyes crinkled at the end</p><p>“Owen,” Carlos breathes, tilting his head ever so slightly to the left. </p><p>“I didn’t wake you, did I? We said we were going to do gifts here?”</p><p>
  <i>Oh, that’s why the alarm went off so early.</i>
</p><p>Carlos lets himself take a breath, stepping back to let Owen inside. He notices the man struggling, handling the gifts with care, but he doesn’t look to Carlos for help until Nadia starts sniffing at the biggest gift at the bottom of the dolly. Only then does he look at Carlos, andmumble, “Some of these are really fragile.”</p><p>Carlos nods, turns back to the dog and crouches in front of her. He scratches behind her tall, pointed ears and smiles. “House, Nadi,” He whispers, and the dog pouts, but obliges.</p><p>“She is such a good dog,” Owen remarks, sitting on the couch. He watches as Carlos takes a seat next to him.</p><p>“That’s all Tk. He trained her so well,” Carlos replies. “You’re right, though, she is a very good girl.” He glances back at the dog, pursing his lips. He remembers when they got Nadia. Tk had forced him to volunteer at the animal shelter for a couple weeks. Her mother had come in along with six puppies. Carlos watched every single one of them—including Nadia’s mother— get adopted out, but she never did. The next week, though, Tk surprised him for his birthday with the puppy that he had bonded with so much. </p><p>“He told me he had her picked out before the rest of them got adopted; said you two had a sort of attachment to each other,” Owen says. He reaches forward and picks up one of the many gifts that he brought into his house.</p><p>“Oh, you really didn’t have to get me any—”</p><p>“First of all, Carlos, you’re my son in law, so yes I did, and secondly, most of these are things that Tk told me explicitly to get you,” Owen assures, and Carlos lets out a heavy laugh.</p><p>He tears open the paper to reveal six games—brand new Pokemon games for the DS (because Carlos doesn't like to stray from tradition, and his DS that he got for his twelfth birthday still works fine), and he smiled. “Did he tell you which ones to get?”</p><p>“He said you had white and platinum and that you needed something to do at work since you can’t text him all the time until he gets back, so I picked out every one I could find that wasn’t white or platinum.”</p><p>Carlos found himself laughing at that, because only Strand men would be able to tag team him like this, but also because he’s right. Carlos has played through pokemon white with every starter pokemon at least twice. It’s getting boring, so he is really thankful for this gift, no matter how cheesy it may be. “Wow, Owen, thank you.”</p><p>Owen smiles.</p><p>They lapse into a comfortable, calm gift giving frenzy, Carlos ending up with six cards against humanity expansion packs (which Owen insistes they play at the firehouse later), a couple new shirts, a necklace, and a new spice rack, and Owen becoming the proud owner of “One of the softest duvets he’s ever touched.”</p><p>It’s comfortable in his home; peaceful, almost, for the first time since Tk stepped onto that plane. It’s been quiet, yes, but peace isn’t something that’s crossed Carlos’s mind in seventeen months. He hasn’t been at peace knowing that Tk is in constant, perpetual danger at all hours of the day, and he knows Owen hasn’t either.</p><p>But now? Sitting with his father in law, Carlos is finally letting his guard down.</p><p>“I do have one more thing for you,” Owen says, gesturing towards the gigantic box, still laid on the dolly. “I normally don’t do huge stuff because I know you don’t really need it, but I promise you’ll like it.”</p><p>In a moment of stupidity, Carlos asks, “What is it?”</p><p>“Open it,” Owen chuckles.</p><p>Carlos blinks at the large box, tilting his head when he sees the box itself is open at the top, making it so he only has to lift the flaps on top to open it. He makes a mental note that it better not be another dog before he sticks his thumb in the opening and yanks it open. He takes a step forward, about to peer inside when he hears it.</p><p>“Next time we do this I’m poking air holes.”</p><p>Carlos freezes.</p><p>In front of him, popping out of the box, stretching his limbs, is his husband.</p><p>“Tk?”</p><p>“Hi, Baby!”</p><p>The first thing Carlos notices is how different Tk sounds in real life. It’s been over a year since he’s seen his husband in person. He’s forgotten how good it feels to hear that voice.</p><p>Carlos takes a few steps forward, nearly tripping as he closes his arms around Tk. He holds him there, taking a few steps back as Tk kicks the box away from him. </p><p>The second thing he notices is how good it feels to have his husband in his arms again. Its an ache that Cafrlos hasn't been able to place since Tk has been gone; a feeling in his muscles that screamed at him for months just to get fixed. Tk and Carlos are puzzle pieces; fit together so perfectly that they nearly forget what it’s like to be apart.</p><p>“Oh my god,” Carlos whispers into his neck, his hand gripping at Tk’s hair so tight as to ground him, but not to hurt him. He feels his other hand find the small of his back, and Carlos lets out a gentle sob because Tk is here. He’s right fucking here.</p><p>“How are you here?”</p><p>He hears Tk laugh; a sound that Carlos missed so dearly. “I don’t know, honestly, Love,” He whispered. “They told me I was getting out a month early, and I asked if I could get back for Christmas. It was a strong maybe so I didn’t wanna tell you in case I didn't make it, but—”</p><p>“You made it,” Carlos finishes for him, reaching his hands up to cup his cheek. “You made it. You’re here. Oh my god, T.”</p><p>Tk shakes his head, reaching forward to grab playfully at Carlos’s chin. “I made it,” he replies, before leaning forward and pressing his lips to Carlos’s.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Comments and Kudos are always welcome! I love hearing from y'all.</p><p>Title: Ritual by Wrabel.</p><p>Say hi on <a href="https://trkstrnd.tumblr.com">tumblr. 💕</a></p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>